USA's Economic Performance from 2008 to 2018

Running head: ECONOMICS
Economics
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1.Introduction
United States of America is world’s one of the most progressive nation of the world.
The country records highest nominal GDP and second higher per capita adjusted GDP in
world. The economy holds the position of one of the most powerful nations globally. The
economy follows principles of a mixed economy. Economic progress of the USA economy
has been fueled by the abundant stock of natural resources, highly developed infrastructure
and high productivity. The economy possess stock of natural resources valued nearly $45
trillion. The nation has a large stock of natural gas, copper, iron, phosphate, gold, silver,
mercury, lead, bauxite, nickel, petroleum, uranium, potash and others (Desai, 2013). USA is a
service dominated economy with share of service sector in the GDP being 80.2 percent
followed by 18.9 percent share of industry and 0.9 percent share of agriculture.
USA is second largest manufacturing industry in the world producing a wide variety
of goods using advanced technology and resources. The top five manufacturing product of
USA are electrical equipment, fabricated metal products, medical equipment, sporting goods
and miscellaneous, primary metal and food. Major services of USA include financial service,
telecommunication, computer service retail distribution, environmental service and others
(Ustr.gov, 2019). Moreover, USA is a world’s leading producer of natural gas and oil.
USA not only has a strong internal economy but also it holds a strong position in
global market through trade and investment. Top five exported commodities of the nation are
Refined and Crude Petroleum, Lumber, Gold, Aluminum and Coffee with five major export
destination of European Union, Canada, Mexico, China and Japan (Businessinsider.com,
2019). Of the several major companies operating in USA, top five are Walmart, Berkshire
Hathaway, Apple, ExxonMobil and McKesson.

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2. Production output performance
Real GDP, growth in real GDP and per capita real GDP
The most convenient measure for aggregate output of a nation is the gross domestic
product. GDP is defined as a measure estimating monetary values of goods and services that
a nation produces in an accounting year. Real GDP is the computed GDP which is adjusted
for inflation and a fixed base price is used in computing values of produced goods and
services in an economy. Growth in real GDP measures the percentage change in real GDP
between two years (Heijdra, 2017). Growth in real GDP is used to measure actual economic
growth of the nation. In order to measure average output within the nation, per capita real
GDP is used. It is a measure obtained by dividing real GDP with total population of the
nation.
Analysis of trend in real GDP
Figure 1: Trend in real GDP in USA from 2008 to 2018
(Source: Tradingeconomics.com, 2019)
The movement of real GDP figures in the last ten years has been summarized in
figure 1. There is a significant decline in real GDP from 2008 to 2009. The single factor

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explaining economic downturn during this time was outbreak of global financial crisis caused
mainly due to subprime mortgage crisis in United States. After few years of continuous
increase, housing price reached to the highest level in 2006, However, since the fourth
quarter of 2007 housing price experienced a steep downfall resulting in an economy wide
debt crisis (Chen et al., 2016). The economy though recovered thereafter but the pace of
recovery was relatively slow.
Figure 2: Trend in real GDP growth in USA from 2008 to 2018
(Source: Tradingeconomics.com, 2019)
The economy growth in USA in the last tend year though revealed a fluctuating trend
but it experienced a sharp decline in 2009 due to the economic recession in 2008. Growth rate
began to slow down since the end of 2008. GDP growth recorded to be negative in 2009. This
was the slowest ever growth rate since 1950. Economy recovery along with stimulating
government measures the economy finally recorded an average growth rate of 6 percent.